What impact do regulatory and accreditation standards have on the risk management process within healthcare organizations

Regulation and Accreditation Standards

Standard accreditation programs seem to improve the processes and structures of healthcare, with an adequate amount of evidence that supports the improvement of clinical outcomes by accreditation programs. The Quality Assurance Program (QAP) trial is the best study that assessed this area. This critical trial was randomized and controlled for essential aspects known to the ability of a healthcare institution to achieve and comply with the standards of accreditation for indicators like staff qualifications, hospital size, budget levels, and staffing levels. The first survey of quality indicators occurred averagely ten months after the survey of COHSASA baseline in the selected hospitals for intervention. There is a possibility that these hospitals had progressed considerably and the progress not recorded since the survey’s first round could not be an accurate baseline owing to its lateness. This is applicable as an explanation for the missing effects of accreditation on specific quality indicators (Harris, Helfand, Woolf, Lohr, Mulrow, Teutsch, … & Force, 2001).

I consider it essential to understand the impacts of regulation and accreditation standards affect risk management because of their consistent positive improvements on certain clinical outcomes such as AMI management, ambulatory surgical care, trauma, pain management, and infection control. According to different studies, subspecialty accreditation programs have also positively impacted clinical outcome improvements within various subspecialties like sleep medication and trauma and chest pain management. Therefore, these programs should be supported and encouraged for the improvement of healthcare quality while avoiding implementation barriers such as healthcare professionals’ skepticism (Pomey, Contandriopoulos, François, & Bertrand, 2004) (Stoelwinder, 2004). 

References

Harris, R. P., Helfand, M., Woolf, S. H., Lohr, K. N., Mulrow, C. D., Teutsch, S. M., … & Force, S. T. (2001). Current methods of the US Preventive Services Task Force: a review of the process. American journal of preventive medicine, 20(3), 21-35.

Pomey, M. P., Contandriopoulos, A. P., François, P., & Bertrand, D. (2004). Accreditation: a tool for organizational change in hospitals?. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance.

Stoelwinder, J. (2004). A study of doctor’s views on how hospital accreditation can assist them provide quality and safe care to consumers.